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Kaffeerösterei, Konstanz, Germany.

Konstanz, a city straddling the Swiss-German border is a university city with history dating back to Roman times. Tucked within its winding, cobbled streets of the old city lies the roastery/cafe, Kaffeerösterei.

Last year, we stumbled upon this cafe and roastery and were greatly impressed by the professionalism and excellence exuding from every corner of this business. Not only did we have wonderful coffees, beautifully made, but spent quite a bit of time with the owners discussing coffee, the market, watching and learning about how they roast. There are few places we have encountered that have so many quality single origin beans and roasted with such care and attention.

On this recent visit--yes we traveled from Zurich just to buy their coffee--we enjoyed cortados prepared from their Cimbali machine, a hearty and deep espresso, one of a few they have roasted, this one incorporating Robusta beans. It packs a punch of flavour, no subtly here, but the roastery is giving it a try and we are sure many customers will enjoy it.

A great feature of this roastery is the wide range of single origin beans on offer (we estimated about fourty different beans and some stored in bins!). We took home samples of the Ethiopian Wild Forest, the Papua New Guinea, the Indonesian Kalossi, the Burundi Butemba, the Malawi Pamwamba, and the Cuban Santa Clara. After trying these out on a home espresso machine we recommend the Pamwamba for its blueberry and grapefruit notes set over a solid, chocolate base. Their Papua New Guinea was also a favorite, with its strong flavor of ash and hazelnut aftertaste. All these will be wonderful for blending. Kaffeerösterei is a great place to stock up on high quality beans, talk coffee with the knowledgable owner Patricia, and taste their brew. This business is a rare oasis of excellence.